


Cutting In

by esteoflorien



Category: Downton Abbey
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-28
Updated: 2013-10-28
Packaged: 2017-12-30 18:19:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1021884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/esteoflorien/pseuds/esteoflorien
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She wanted nothing more than to dance with Sarah.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cutting In

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cassanabaratheon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cassanabaratheon/gifts).



She wanted nothing more than to dance with Sarah. Not because she was a particularly good dancer; not because she was a conversationalist; but because she wanted to feel Sarah’s hand at her back instead of Carson’s; because she wanted to rest her hand in Sarah’s softness, not in Robert’s firm grip. She wanted to tilt her forehead against Sarah’s shoulder, and feel Sarah’s breath on her ear.

She had dressed for Sarah, after all; she’d managed to keep the dress a secret even from her, so that she could savor Sarah’s gasp when she carefully lifted it from its box. She’d chosen it carefully, of course; Edith had been almost scandalized by it, but she couldn’t deny that it suited her well. She’d chosen deep green, this year, with two contrasting shades of silk layered one over the other. The first, the under-layer, was so dark it might as well have been black, and hugged her figure perfectly, leaving the overlay of sheer hunter green silk to obscure her form only slightly. Cora had fallen in love with the way it moved, in fluttering of silk as she’d twisted and turned before the mirror. Edith had been taken with it as well, she knew, despite her daughter’s expression of amused disapproval.

Then there had been the pleasure of listening to Sarah’s quickening breath, and she’d decided, only seconds after Sarah finished dressing her, fastening the single pearl button at the nape of her neck and had turned to face her, her desire etched over her face, that all the subterfuge had been well worth the trouble.

“Do you like it, darling?” she’d asked, knowing full well the answer she’d receive.

“It’s ravishing,” Sarah had replied after a moment, her gaze running up and down Cora’s form, before invariably settling on the swell of her breasts just barely concealed under the overlay and decidedly accentuated by the slip. Sarah had kissed her, then, fully and deeply, and Cora had felt all the promise of the pleasures to follow that night in the brush of their lips and the caress of Sarah’s tongue.  
Now, she did her best to catch Sarah’s eye as Thomas lead her about the floor, solicitous as he always was. She hadn’t once felt Robert’s gaze on her back throughout the evening, but Sarah’s had veritably burned her with its intensity. Thomas kept them in the corner by the fireplace, knowing after so many years that she preferred the warmth, but conveniently, Sarah was sat in the corner, sipping at her mulled wine following her obligatory turn about the floor.

“If I may, my lady, you look beautiful this evening,” Thomas offered, jolting her out of her thoughts.

She giggled. He always had been thoroughly impertinent, but pleasantly so, and she blushed. “Thank you, Thomas,” she said, and he nodded in reply. Behind her, she heard the distinct sound of a discontented sigh and bit her lip against her smile. Poor Thomas, it seemed, would be hearing from Sarah later on.

“And you are by far the loveliest dancer,” Thomas added before spinning her out.

She nodded as she returned to his arms, putting a bit more distance between them at the sound of Sarah’s muffled cough. It wouldn’t do to be so close to Thomas, not when he was being so forward, and really, she was saving the poor boy from a certain tongue-lashing at the hands of Miss O’Brien.

“It’s always the highlight of the ball for me to dance with you, my lady,” Thomas finished. “If I may be so bold.”

This time, even she had to raise her eyebrows at his temerity, but that was nothing compared to the glare she saw emanating from Sarah’s face as they pivoted during their waltz to hold the final position before the music changed. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sarah stand; now Thomas had gone and ruined the fun of their evening, and she’d have to sort Sarah out after the ball.  
Thomas smiled, apparently pleased that he’d gotten away with his insolence, and was just taking a step back from her into position for the Charleston, added to the list at Edith’s request when he jumped and turned around.

“May I cut in?”

It was all Cora could do to keep her surprise from her expression at the sound of Sarah’s familiar voice.

“Of course, Miss O’Brien,” Thomas said smoothly, and after a bow and kiss to her hand, he disappeared.

Sarah met her gaze evenly, with a hint of a smile ghosting about her lips. “May I have this dance, my lady?” she asked.

It was a quick little number, of course; Cora knew perfectly well that girls danced it together all the time, and though it was hardly the slow, affection-laced waltz she’d long dreamt of sharing with her lover, there was still something of a thrill in dancing with Sarah in front of everyone.

Cora smiled. “With pleasure, O’Brien,” she said, and even if Sarah’s expression didn’t give the game away, she took comfort in the warmth and firmness of Sarah’s grip. Even if they couldn’t dance as sweetly or as closely as she wanted, there was still a great deal of fun to be had in something like the Charleston, and they laugh their way through the unfamiliar steps, giggling like schoolgirls, and it felt, to Cora’s surprise, as if the rest of the room had managed to melt away, in spite of the quick tempo and the space between them.

“Thank you, my lady,” Sarah murmured after their dance. If they’d been alone, Cora knew that Sarah would have kissed her hand.

Cora smiled at her and squeezed her hands, reluctant to let her go. There couldn’t be any harm in showing Sarah just a little bit of affection, she reasoned, and they were hardly the focus of the floor, everyone else having moved on to the next dance. She leant toward Sarah and offered her a continental bise, her lips just barely catching Sarah’s cheeks, but the contact was enough to make her lover shiver and gasp with surprise. When she stepped away, reluctantly dropping Sarah’s hands from her own, she savored the soft, slightly bittersweet expression on Sarah’s face.

~

“That was Thomas’s doing,” Sarah remarked, tying off the end of Cora’s braid. “He said it was his Christmas present to me.”

“Thomas doesn’t know, does he?” Cora breathed. She couldn’t imagine anything more horrifying than the thought that someone knew and could hold it over their heads.

Sarah laughed. “Cora, this is one secret that Thomas will never betray.”

“How could you be so sure?”

Sarah’s eyes widened. “Cora, dearest,” she began. “Thomas is like us. He won’t betray us. And anyway, he doesn’t know. He knows that I love you, of course. I couldn’t manage to keep that from him, not when he knows what to look for. But don’t let it worry you.”

Cora smiled. There was no sense in worrying over it, not if Sarah was unconcerned. “Thomas always did like me, I suppose.”

Sarah shrugged. “He likes you well enough. He despises the way you’ve been treated, however. Don’t think on him any longer.”

Cora watched as Sarah saw to her own undressing; it’d been smart for her to have contracted such a terribleillness from the punch, though of course she’d felt sorry for Mrs Patmore. But it was far more convenient to give Sarah a reason to stay with her than to worry about sneaking around, and the crowning glory of the evening would be an entire night and leisurely morning spent wrapped in Sarah’s arms, without needing to awaken early so she could creep back up to the servants’ quarters.

Sarah finished her nightly ablutions and crossed the room to stand before her, holding her hand out in offering. “May I have this dance, my dearest love?” she asked.

Despite her smile, Cora felt tears prickle behind her eyes as she placed her hand in her lover’s. “I can’t think of anything I’d like more, my darling,” she murmured.

They danced slowly, not covering much ground at all, their heads leant together and their hands clasped tightly between them. There wasn’t any music, and she wasn’t dressed in silk and decked with diamonds, but this, Cora decided, was the dance to savor.


End file.
